Should My Town Use Social Media?

I live in Australia, we tend to be a little behind some other parts of the world. Recently I've begun to see many more businesses and the like in my town embrace social media.

I see this as an advantage. Social media is huge, to not be a part of something so freely available is unwise in my opinion. Most of the larger businesses in my home town do take advantage of this and have built a presence for themselves. Especially on Facebook.

The "check in" option on Facebook can be used by smaller businesses to gain more customers, or to remind old customers that they are still there! However, so many of the smaller businesses do not have their own page on the site. Restaurants would greatly benefit, they can upload a menu, post photos of some of their meals, photos of their functions, build up some followers and then post specials. 


It's free marketing, I don't understand why more businesses do not take advantage of this!


I've also joined a few pages on Facebook that are solely for promoting that particular town. I find myself wanting to go back and visit because of pictures they've posted of attractions that I either didn't get a chance to see or I did but would love to see again. They post about upcoming festivals and events, local news, all sorts! I find social media is a great form of promoting tourism that should definitely be embraced more.